


we already know (that the story can change)

by metalmeisje



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Drowning, Drug use implied, Gen, Torture, Yoglabs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 17:47:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6124987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metalmeisje/pseuds/metalmeisje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xephos woke up feeling colder than he had in years and with a wet ass. Which was as bewildering as it was worrying, really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we already know (that the story can change)

**Author's Note:**

> I am very, very weak for Yoglabs Xeph fucking his former friends over. And getting fucked over in return. Written for Goretober.

Xephos woke up feeling colder than he had in years and with a wet ass. Which was as bewildering as it was worrying, really. He had to blink against the bright lights that seemed to weigh down on him, fluorescent lamps bathing his surroundings in the dirty white of an operating room. His arms were pulled behind his back awkwardly by something immovable that Xephos vaguely registered as manacles, or cuffs, frozen cold metal that forced his shoulders back awkwardly; and on top of everything else, he was fairly sure that he didn’t feel his toes anymore.

_What the hell happened. I should have put a bullet through his head the second he turned around, the moment he came at me – why didn’t I? Where **am** I?_

It took him some vehement cursing and a bruised shoulder, the unfortunate result of slipping on the wet surface of whatever prison chamber he’d been shoved in, but eventually Xephos managed to struggle himself upright. He stood on shaky legs and leaned his forehead against the chilled glass, squinting to see who was watching him from the other side.

He’d had taken _so many_ precautions to avoid a situation like this one. Hell, there were so many security measures in place that someone should have come already, one of the replaceable but efficient testificate who at least knew that making Xephos wait for them would end in a swift death – no exceptions. He’d made _sure_ of that; it made for fairly efficient, if incredibly dumb workers. But there was no sound of obedient footsteps or even a raised alarm now, no warning light flickering an urgent red in sight; just his own ragged breathing cutting through the silence.

The glass was annoyingly murky, condensation from the icy water blurring his vision, but it was impossible to mistake the distorted outlines of the figure sitting on a chair on the other side of it regardless. He’d had his hands in that head more times than he cared to remember, knew every twist and bend of those surprisingly fragile bones as if he’d made them himself. And he had, in a way. But right now Ridge looked _whole_ and had his head propped up, idly leaning on the back of the chair that he had straddled with the back of it facing Xephos. And that unreadable flicker in eyes that glowed much brighter than Xephos thought appropriate for a fucking _clone_ froze him to the spot more than the water did _._

_Shit._

“Hello, Xephos,” Ridge said quietly, voice as icy as the water that had reached Xephos’ ankles by now. “You look like shit.”

“Let me _out,_ Ridge,” Xephos spat back, emphasizing his point by throwing himself shoulder-first against the glass barrier separating them despite the pain that surged through the restrained limb. “I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing, but-“

“I think you know exactly what I’m doing,” Ridge replied coolly as he reached inside his coat. “Come on, you never struck me as a stupid man. Do the math, _bright eyes._ ”

Xephos watched in silent rage as Ridge reached into his pocket, taking all the time in the world to allow his expression to settle into an infuriating smirk as he pulled out his watch.

His _watch._

“What’s wrong?” Ridge asked innocently as he let the golden watch dangle from its chain, keeping his eyes trained on Xephos as if he wanted to drink in every small response that the spaceman would grant him with. “Didn’t see this one coming? Shame. You should know by now that I’m a man of my word.”

“You’re making a big mistake,” Xephos said, but even he could hear the lack of conviction in his own voice. He felt _tired,_ exhaustion and cold seeping through his skin and down to his bones until he could feel himself shiver.

“When I get out of here-“

Ridge just laughed and Xephos felt himself still at the hollow sound, Ridge’s face like a grave; sharp teeth visible as his lips were pulled back in a familiar grin, all jagged edges and with none of the adoration that Xephos had gotten used to.

_You’re not getting out of there._

The words were left unspoken, hanging between them like mist that refused to evaporate as Xephos threw himself at the thick glass again and again. He longed for his hands to be free, tugging at the restraints until they bit into his wrists. He wanted to see the glass _break,_ see the webbing of cracks spread out from the point of impact outwards until he could smash his fist through it and _strangle_ Ridge. But the glass didn’t budge, didn’t give him an inch no matter how much he raged; with teeth bared in a stark contrast to Ridge’s deceptive calm, exhaustion crept up on him as the water rose and rose.

It was like a phantom ache, the pain of a limb that had been cut off but the discomfort of it still lingering long after you’d been cut off. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t summon the feeling of electricity crackling at his fingertips, couldn’t numb the erratic hammering of his heart to a more manageable level with anything other than rage. And that, in the end, wasn’t enough to make the glass _or_ Ridge budge.

When the water reached his chin he had to stand on his tiptoes to glare at Ridge, who had remained immovable; still like a statue save for the way he flicked the pocket watch open and closed, open and closed. It was infuriating more than anything, but when Xephos reflexively balled his hands into fists and realized he couldn’t feel the way his nails dug into his palms, angry half-moons he could only assume were there because they expected sting remained absent, he could feel his stomach turn in fear for the first time in ages.

He would curse at Ridge again, if it wasn’t for the fact that the water was up to his lips now, numbing even his face as Xephos _finally_ started to panic.

_I still have the respawn. I’ll be fine. This is going to be shit but I’ve drowned before, and then I’m going to **kill** you._

_Very._

_Fucking._

_Slowly._

Xephos’ pride didn’t allow him to shout at Ridge again, settling instead for tipping his head back and taking one last gulp of air when the water had risen almost to the top of his glass prison. Not that it was going to do him much good if Ridge wasn’t bluffing, but it was worth a shot. Like this, with the water all around him and his arms behind his back, all Xephos could do was glare at Ridge’s distorted image as he waited for his lungs to start burning.

Which took him about 85 seconds. Fairly impressive.

It crept up on him much faster than he wanted to, the way his extremities started tingling despite the cold, and before long his heart felt like it was throwing itself at his ribs in a desperate attempt to get much-needed oxygen from his convulsing lungs and coming up empty. Familiar blackness crept in on the edges of his vision, narrowing his perspective until all he could see was Ridge’s smug grin, distorted by water and growing panic as he tried with everything he had to hold his breath.

But that was the funny thing about a mortal body. In the end, the need for oxygen would override just about everything else, no matter how stubborn the owners of those desperate lungs was. Natural instinct kicked in and Xephos finally opened his mouth in a silent scream, face scrunched up in pain when he felt his lungs convulse at the sudden icy water flooding them. It _hurt_ and it felt like something heavy was sitting on his chest, the outwards pressure too much for something as fragile and gas-dependent as a lung.

At least he would black out soon-

Or so he thought.

Every inch of him felt numb and Xephos half-choked as he took in gulp after gulp of water, squirming helplessly in the water when it did nothing but freeze him from the inside out. It felt like tiny needles prickling through the thin membrane of his lungs, ever capillary struggling but _succeeding_ to ease some of the light-headedness now that he somehow wasn’t slowly suffocating.

He _wanted_ to suffocate.

He wanted to get rid of this godawful fuzzy feeling that rose and rose until it just stopped, leaving him hanging – quite literally – like a ghostly silhouette behind glass, kicking his feet and with his chest heaving as he tried to swallow enough water to get himself out of his prison.

It made his head spin and it didn’t _stop._

Eyes wide in panic, the light of them scattered by the liquid and shattering so it gave everything around him an eerie cyan glow, Xephos forced out a broken, muffled scream that he knew probably wouldn’t pass the clear glass walls.

He could see Ridge’s silhouette  move closer, his features blurry as he pressed a hand to the glass and smirked at Xephos with all the confidence of a man who knew that he had finally won enough battles to be considered the victor. The fucking _underdog,_ Xephos thought with a new surge of anger, and he kicked half-heartedly at the glass with all the force his numb limbs could manage.

And he _still_ wasn’t goddamn able to shake off the last remnants of consciousness that stopped his vision from blackening completely, his surroundings shaking with the way his eyes darted around in an attempt to find something to hold on to. He hovered like that, his chest shuddering with every wet inhale that felt freezing and heavy and wrong, feet kicking at nothingness as he met Ridge’s eyes through the glass.

He was _stuck here._

Ridge smirked at him, running a thumb over the pocket watch one last time before Xephos watched it slip into his coat again with growing horror. He would bash his head against the glass if he could have mustered the energy for it, if every movement didn’t feel increasingly lethargic and the whole world wasn't fuzzy and unfocused at the edges.

“Best settle in, bright eyes,” Ridge said, voice muffled by the water and the cotton wool that felt like it took up all the space Xephos’ brain had previously resided in – but clear enough to cut through anyway, amused and final. “You’re going to be here for a while.”


End file.
